LTE Galaxy Nexus puts on some weight after ditching HSPA+

Lost among the flurry of Nexus and Ice Cream Sandwich news last night, Samsung shared an interesting fact on the size of the Galaxy Nexus and how it relates to the radios inside. Apparently, the LTE version of the device will be a tad thicker than the HSPA+ version.

The representative that spilled the beans wouldn’t say exactly how much bigger the LTE Nexus would be. He said it wouldn’t be much, but there is a definite difference. But why? Is it because of the additional chips needed for voice and data? Or could a bigger battery be the culprit? Either one makes sense.

LTE devices are notorious battery hogs. I feel most people would rather have a phone that’s a couple millimeters thicker if the battery lasts all day. But not everyone is crazy harsh on their phone, and the standard battery does them just fine. If the added thickness comes from the LTE chip, then there’s not much that can be done.

We’re just going to have to wait for both devices to make their way into the wild to see how the size difference really measures up.